Paw Chewing

AmyMay

AmyMay

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Daisy has started chewing her front paws, turning them pink. She's not at them constantly, and I check for anything caught between the toes etc. I also rinse them after we've been out walking. The hair is not overly long either.

She's a Bichon, and fed on Orijen.

Does anyone have any experience of this?
 
The only time I have seen it was in keenel kept dogs that were stressed. Or are you sure she doesn't have harvest mites? They are tiny little things who live between their toes.
 
One of my rescues suffered with fits, ear infections and hot spots. Paw licking was his way of coping when things were at their worst. It's self comfort, like a child thumb sucking, usually caused by stress, pain or as Clodagh says, parasites. If one of mine was paw kicking without a known cause, I would have them checked over.
 
My Mums dog would do this if she had been in cut grass and it was an allergy, if we kept her off grass that was newly cut it wasn't half as bad and would stop in the winter time.
 
Well it could be grass - but really it could be anything I suppose. I don't think it's mites, so it's probably allergy related.

We're booked in to the vet on Friday, so we'll go from there.
 
In some hyperactive dogs it is a form of OCD, along with tail chasing, hunting flies, chewing stones, etc. I have seen it in several working dogs over the years. My young working strain German shepherd will chase his tail when excited in the kennel, for example just before he gets out for exercise. He also digs and flicks soil behind him and then turns rapidly to try to catch it. The cure for this is to keep them active and give them something to occupy their minds, which in a working dog probably means more work. As my dog doesn't do this obsessively, it is not a problem but I gather a litter mate kept as a family pet had to be destroyed because he started to eat his feet. Could the dog be bored?
 
If you go to the vet ask about the Elisa test for allergies..it is a blood test,you can do environmental and dietary factors...some say it's not effective,but we used it for one dog and found she was intolerant to beetroot and potatoe...both common ingredients in many kibbles.(cost was 150 euros for each group of factors ,so we did food, as it seems more relevant to my dog)
 
Our Border Terrier chased her tail...she never got bored, but used to get very angry with it!
I hope it is somethnig easily fixed, AM.
 
Friend has a Cavishon (King Charles x Bichon I believe!) who had the exact thing.
They went to the vet after a long long time of her doing it (they thought it was just her) and the vet diagnosed some kind of allergy and put her on antihistamines. They have really helped. They are no closer to knowing what the allergy is but the dogs far more comfortable.
The vet said it's very common in dogs of this type and the saliva is what turns the hair discoloured. This may be obvious to some!!! I'd just thought she was naturally that way :)
 
Yes allergies are common in Bichon's, but she's been so fab up until now. I think I've convinced myself that it's diet related. But will obviously see what the vet says tomoz. But I think the most sensible thing is to probably stop the Orijen too.
 
They are generally a healthy little breed, but some breed do indeed suffer OCD more commonly than others as suggested one being collies it simply starts with simple cleaning and turns into an OCD, easier said than done but distracting her each time she does it and keep the fur on her paws really short and ask your vet to check her anal glands, sometimes when other bodily parts are causing irritation and cannot be reached the dog will mutilate other parts that can be reached. Do the groomers shave between her pads?
 
We had this with our dog - and she had infected anal glands as Cayla says above. Hope it's something easy to sort - food allergies can be really troublesome!
 
We had this with a lab we had years ago, he actually gave himself a bit of inflammation from chewing. It then became a bit of a habit, we totally cured him by obviously telling him not to do it/distracting him in the daytime, but it was nighttime that was the worse. So we had him sleep in our bedroom and everytime we heard him start to chew his paws we yelled at him to stop. Sounds awful but he wasn't a sensitive sould and we did completely stop it and he was never troubled again.
My current lab had one paw obviously bothering her, she was chewing at it and the vet took her in, operated it and it was a bit of necrotic tissue inside the pad, it never came back. This dog is slightly allergic we don't know to what but it affects her ears. Fingers crossed we continue to be on top of it. If she gets another ear infection our next thing will be a food trial there is a purina anti allergy food you can get, which is produced so the dog's body doesn't recognize it as anything it has eaten before. It was Purina HA, the thing is if you do this to give it a real chance of working the dog has to eat nothing else for the first few months. No titbits, gravy to make it more palatable, rabbit poo, etc., fortunately the dog is OK now. We saw the dermatologist at Potters Bar Veterinary college, she is brilliant, hopefully you can sort out your dog easily, but can I say if you my only regret with my dog is that I didn't push to see the specialist sooner, if I had my dog's would not have got so bad and made them much easier to treat. I had been taking her to the vet for months before hand and asked to be referred to a specialist much earlier but the vet kept saying putting me off.
 
Well saw vet. Anal glands are fine. After chatting about the history she was of the opinion that it's food related, and that the Orijen simply doesn't suit her. She recommend Fish 4 Dogs, which is what I fed prior to the Orijen with no issues (I only changed because I'd read such good things about the Orijen).

We have some cream and 'wash'. So we'll see what happens once I change back to the F4D. Hopefully I've caused the problem with a switch of food and it will be quickly resolved.

Thanks all for your advice and thoughts.
 
Look at Millies Wolfheart too, it's totally gluten free including no rice gluten. Many dogs are allergic to chicken and eggs too.

I honestly have nothing to do with the company, it's just been a great food for 2 of my very sensitive dogs.
 
Do you walk your dog near any arable land that may have been dressed recently?
Or park's or fields that may have been sprayed?
I ask as my uncle's dog used to do this when walking on footpaths on local farmer's fields even after washing his dog's feet, in his dog's case it was Lime used on the fields getting in to his feet, the burning/itching had already started before he managed to get home and wash the dog's feet. As the irritation was already there he just carried on chewing.
If you do walk anywhere where they could have dressed the fields with fertilisers or weed killers that could be what the problem is, Oz
 
We do walk fields, but not arable, and never those that have been dressed - especially lime, which you xan smell a mile off thankfully.
 
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